Printing cut-out for adding-machines



F. A. NIEMANN.

PRINTING CUT-OUT FOR ADDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24, I907.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 1.

F. A. NIEMANN.

PRlNTlNG CUT-OUT FOR ADDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24.1907- '1,333,277. Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

F. A. NIEMANN. PRINTING CUT-OUT FOR ADDING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED .24.1902.

1,333,277. Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3.

.ZZM ZZOIC vZ-JQ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. NIEMANN, OECHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS,

T0 FELT &, TARRANT MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A GORIORATION OF ILLINOIS.

PRINTING CUT-OUT FOR ADDING-MACHIN ES.

Specification ofv Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. NIE- MANN, a citizen of the United States, residing in Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Printing Cut-Outs for Adding-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to printing adding machines, and theparticular embodiment of it here shown is indicated as applied to the printing adding machine commonly known as the Comptograph, and generally shown in the various United States patents heretofore issued to Dorr E. Felt for printing add- .ing machines, and their mechanism, and

more particularly shown in the patent to Felt and lVetmor-e, 853,543, issuedMay 14, 1907; and the object of my invention is to provide mechanism whereby the operator may at will and selectively prevent the type impressions that would normally be made in the ordinary listing action of the machine, from either the right hand or the left hand side of the full number of places ordinarily printable, so that any number of orders may be eliminated from either the right hand or the left hand side of the printed list.

. to show the relation of such U-bars to their 'hammer-pawls andto the said cam-device; Fig. 3 is a partially diagrammatlc end plan view of the cam-device, to show the relation of the series of cams to the U-bar ears that they cooperate with; and Fig. 4 is a Vertical sectional view lengthwise through the machine, to show the general relations of the adding and printing mechanisms; Fig. 5 is a rear elevation and perspective of the part of the frameof the machine shown in section in Fig. 1, with part of said frame broken away to show in elevation and perspective the gang of cam devices in normal position and the U-bars with which they cooperate, and the upper ends of the tail-piece levers cooperating with said U-bars, and the comb-bar coiiperating with said tail-piece levers; and Fig. 6 shows in plan view each of the series of separate cams that together constitute the gang of camsin the printing cutout cam device of this invention, said separated cams being respectively shown in the same normal position in which they are indicated in the plan view of the assembled gang shown in Fig. 3. Like reference numerals indicate like parts in all of the figures.

My present invention relates to the prevention of the type-hammer printing-action by selectively holding in tripped position the hammer-pawls that normally catch and hold the type-hammers when the latter are moved to their reset position. The manner of operation of said hammer-pawls, and their tripping by the releasing-frames or U- bars, is set forth on page 5 of the specification of Patent No. 644,287 to Dorr E. Felt. Each U-bar 20 in the present device has its forward arm so notched, at 21, that the projecting tip 22 of said arm will engage only one of the hammer-pawls, each successive U- bar being adapted to engage a hammer-pawl of next succeeding order; except'that the U- bar of second order may have its projection extended to engage also the hammer-pawl of the first order, because there is seldom, if

' ever, occasion to print any figure in the second order without also printing either a cipher or digit in the first order,-and, in like manner, in dollars-and-cents machines, the U-bar of first order may have its projection extended to engage also the hammerpawl of second order, because the printing of any digit in the first or pennies order generally requires the printing of at least a cipher in the second or dimes order. Any hammer-pawl is tripped by the forward movement of the corresponding U-bar, and if the U-bar is held in the forwardly moved position, the corresponding hammer-pawl continues to be held in the tripped position, and the released type-hammer cannot be reset to effect further printing action. To the end that the U-bars may be so moved and held at the option of the operator, to prevent printing action in the desired places, each U-bar has a lateral projection or car 28 adapted to be engaged by a rotary cam-piece 24, whereby such U-bar may be moved forward into position to trip and hold tripped the correspomling hammer-pawl 25. These cam pieces 24 are eight in number (24, 24", 24, :24, 24, 24, 24" of Fig. 6), mutually separated by the circular disks shown in plan in Figs. 2 and 3 (and in edge view in Fig. 1 and perspective in Fig. and said cam pieces and their separating disks are keyed to and bolted upon the lower end of an inclined shaft-rod journaled in the frame of the machine and rotated by means of the indexed thumb knob 26, and its inner hub is provided with a double series of reversely placed cams 2728, each half of the series extending halfway around the said hub and having the successive cam faces so spaced and stepped off from each other that they may successively engage and move one after another of the aforesaid U-bar cars 23, so as to successively displace. and hold displaced, one after another of the U-bars as the cam-piece is rotated from one to another of its indexed graduations. The plan view Fig. 3 shows the gang of cams in normal position. the topmost cam of the gang (the cam 24 of Fig. 6) appearing in full lines, and the rest of the cams of the series being indicated in broken lines. This uppermost cam, 24, coacts with the topmost U-bar, the U-bar cooperating with the hammer pawl of the lowest order, the left hand one of the series of hammer pawls 25 indicated in Fig. 2; and the successively lower cams (24 24, 24 24*, 24, 24 and 24 of Fig. 6) respectively coact with the successively lower U-bars of the U-bar gang shown in Fig. 2. If the rotation is in one direction from the starting point, one of the double cam-series 2728, the series 27 (of Figs. 2, 3 and 6) acts to displace one after another of the U-bars from the lowest order to the highest, until all have been displaced when the cam-piece has made a half turn; and if the rotation be in the other direction from the starting point, the other half of the double series of cams, 2728, the series 28 (of Figs. l, 2, 3, 5 and 6), acts to similarly displace the successive U-bars in reverse manner, from the highest order to the lowest. Thus, the operator may at will out out the printing-action in any number of orders, and beginning at either the righthand or the lefthand side of the full series of orders in the machine; or may cut out all of the orders by a complete half-turn of the indexed knob. Other arrangements of the cam surfaces on the rotating canrpiece will permit other and various selective elimination of the printing-action in any particular orders or places across the width of the printing line of the machine.

The sectional view Fig. 4 shows the general relations of the adding and printing mechanisms. Each of the series of main adding levers 29 performs the three-fold function of rotating the corresponding adding wheel 30, by means of the segment gear 31, of setting in position the type segment 32, by means of the connection 33, and of setting forward the tail-piece levers 33 so that their curved slots 34 will be engaged by the comb-piece when the latter is subsequently rocked downward. The patent to Felt No. 644,287, at page 5 of its specification, more particularly sets forth the manner of operation of this comb-piece, called a cross-bar in said patent. The movement of the aforesaid main-lever 29 is effected through. the main-lever connection 36 that is pivoted upon said main-lever at 37. This main-lever connection is provided at its upper end with a cam-arm 38 adapted to be in constant contact with and shifted by the cam-stud 39 on the sliding cam-bar 40, which latter is shifted to greater or less extent by the depression of one or another of the keys 41, each of said keys being arranged to impinge against and shift one of the series of cams 42 that project upward from and are integral with the aforesaid cam-bar. The extent of the movement of the cam-bar is thus determined by the key that is depressed, and in turn determines the extent to which the cam-stud 39 shall swing back the cam-arm 38 of the pivoted mainlever connection 36; and the extent to which the short or cam-arm of said connection is swung back determines the extent to which the long or lower arm of said pivoted connection shall be swung forward. The extreme free end of said long arm of con nection 36 carries the stud 43, and the extent to which said long arm is swung for ward determines the engagement of said stud in one or another of the series of notches 44 in the forward end of the adding-arm 45 when the latter is rocked downward in the subsequent actuation of the machine. And the particular notch in which the aforesaid stud happens to engage, of course, determines the extent to which the main-lever 29 will be pulled down by its connection 36, upon the aforesaid rocking of the adding-arm 45. The adding-arm is secured to the main rock-shaft 46 and the rocking of said rock-shaft piece, upon the pulling of the operating handle of the machine, effects the movement of the adding-wheels and the positioning of the type-segments to the extent predetermined by the depression of the corresponding keys. 47 is the numeral wheel stop that checks the forward movement of the numeral wheel effected by the segment gear 31, said stop being actuated through the connection rod 48 whose lower end is pivotally secured to the forward end of the adding-arm. 49 is the back stop to prevent backward rotation of the numeral wheel. And the carrying from one numeral wheel to that of the next higher order is effected by the carrying-levers 50, with their carrying-pawls 51 and carrying lOFi stops 52, operating in the Well known man ner of the identical devices shown in the hereabove mentioned patent to Felt and Wetmore No. 853,543. The numeral Wheel mechanism is of course duplicated as many times as there are orders in the machine.

My invention is hereinabove set forth as embodied in a particular form of construction, but I do not limit myself thereto or to less than all the possible forms in which the invention, as hereinafter claimed, may be embodied and distinguished from prior devices.

I claim 1. In an adding machine, in combination, multiple-order adding-and digital type-impression mechanisms, and optionally operable means cooperating severally With the typeimpression mechanisms of the successive orders and adapted selectively to prevent all the type-impression mechanisms from printing in any varying number of orders from either the right hand order up or the left hand order down, substantially as specified.

2. In an adding machine, in combination, multiple order adding and digital type-impression mechanisms, and optionally operable means, including a spiral cam device, adapted selectively to prevent all the typeimpression mechanism from printing in a varying plurality of orders, substantially as specified.

3. In an adding machine, in combination, multiple-order adding and digital type-impression mechanisms, and optionally operable means, including the spiral cam-member 2424, adapted selectively to prevent all the type-impression mechanism from printing in a varying plurality of orders, substantially as specified.

4. In an adding machine, in combination, multiple-order adding and digital type-impression mechanisms, and optionally operable means, including the double-spiral cam- 7 member 2l24, adapted selectively to prevent all the type-impression mechanism from printing in any number of orders from either the right handorder up or the left hand order down, substantially as specified.

5. In an adding machine, in combination, multipleorder adding ancl.cligital type-impression mechanisms, and optionally operable means cooperating severally With the type-impression mechanisms of the successive orders and adapted to prevent all the type-impression mechanism from printing in either all or a varying plurality of orders, at the selection of the operator, substantially as specified.

FREDERICK A. NIEMANN.

Witnesses H. A. LEAM, L. J. O'I'IEN. 

